Final Reflection

My research paper was about the portrayal of the human mind in film based on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Based on several sources, I argued that the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind anticipates today's new therapies that help patients forget traumatic events. Although at first picking my topic was difficult to chose; specifically on what I wanted to explain, the help of the professor narrowed down my option to one. I discovered that it was much easier to have an online site of the class making it easier to look for resources. The research links were easy to find and my sources too. As much as I hate writing so many drafts of one paper, I discovered that breaking down the work is better and revising it as much as possible, made my writing more effective. My research process was confusing at first but I came to conclude that much of the patients' who suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are caused by memories in our mind that aren't easy to erase. As much as erasing memories can be easy to do, erasing the emotional feeling cannot be done as I seen in the movie I wrote about. I do advise future students who will take this course to do every assignment because it will make your paper so much better over time.

My Final Research Paper Game Plan

 During the next two weeks, I need to work on finishing my paper with two more body paragraphs and my conclusion. I also need to find at least one more source about new treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to include in my last two body paragraphs. I would need to improve my paraphrasing sentences and write MLA citations correctly.

Close Reading of Film Stills in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"

In this first film still Joel Barish is going under the first step of the procedure of Dr. Meirzwiak takes upon patients whom suffer post-traumatic stress due to remembering awful memories or hurtful experiences. He tells Joel to tell him about the relationship of his with Clementine since the beginning while he takes notes and listens to Joel speak. While Joel is continuing to tell Dr. Meirzwiak about the relationship the doctor is getting him prepare for the next step of erasing his memories with Clementine. Dr. Meirzwiak tells Joel there is an emotional core to each of our memories when you retract that core each of our memories start to dissolve, every memory specific with her will no longer be there; dream upon waking.  The director made a clear sense that though erasing memories can be done in three quick steps, he gives the picture that the patient Joel should first be able to talk to the doctor and understand the process in which he will need to pass in order to forget Clementine. The director gives an important point that patients should be heard out first in order to achieve erasing the awful memories of theirs.

In this second film still Joel Barish is now put into the last step of the procedure where the technician who now is monitoring Joel's dream state while being in deep sleep is erasing effectively the memories of Clementine. The director puts into sense the point of easily erasing memories, by monitoring the patient's in deep sleep when in reality it may not be that easy.

Blog Assignment #1

The research topic idea I chose was Portrayal of Human Minds in Film. I will be discussing about the film The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and its anticipation of today's new therapies that help patients forget traumatic memories. One of the sources that I will be using is the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by Michel Gondry. The film is the main source that introduces my topic that I will researching on because it gives the storyline of a man who discovers that his ex-girlfriend went under a treatment that caused her to completely forget about him. This new treatment introduces a new form of forgetting trauma and it gives me the first insight of how it is processed to forget memories you rather not remember. Another resource I found interesting was a journal article on JSTOR "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and the Morality of Memory written by Christopher Grau. In a couple pages Grau gives a brief description on the use of technology to forget memories or someone specifically and by also including the pros and cons in the film. Grau states "Thanks to the work of one Dr. Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) and his company Lacuna, Inc., several characters are able to undergo a process by which they have the mem-ories of other people erased from their minds in order to lessen the suffering that these painful memories can cause". This two sources gave me a starting point in where I can start my paper.

My Research Topic

The research idea I will be doing is Portraying Human Minds in Film and the film I have chosen is "The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". This film is based on forgetting traumatic memories by using a machine. I have seen the movie before but for the most part saw the romantic comedy part of it not the real idea behind it. At the end of the movie I really didn't like the idea of erasing memories especially memories with a specific person and forgetting all about them. But I guess I am going to break the movie down by scenes and answer the guiding questions for the research paper.

My first blog post.